With a little help

One of the new phenomena facing the Church in Canada is the reality that priests are a diminishing breed (at least those of the local variety). One of the strategies employed to provide an immediate response to this truth is that more and more priests from other parts of the world are being invited by some of our bishops to come and work among us.

Although there are various challenges both to the priests who come from lands afar and to communities here in Canada who are asked to welcome them, there are also many valuable lessons which can be learned.

One of the priests who has spent a number of years in a parish not far from mine once made a very astute observation: 'It seems that being a priest in Canada is an increasingly difficult task, because there are fewer and fewer support structures to help support you in your work and ministry.' These few words bear more truth than some would be willing to admit.

In a culture which seems to have bypassed the time when the Church was a place to be honoured, we now find ourselves (at least in this part of the world) facing a culture which has left behind the rituals they once may have known, and choose to create pseudo-rituals to mark the significant passages in their lives. In recent days, the CBC has been running a documentary which tells the story of at least one person who appears to be making a living from creating rituals for almost anything that might be wanted, including divorce.

Against this culture which seems to pay less and less attention to the importance of ritualizing the significant moments in our lives, these few days are particularly instructive for me, and I hope for the members of the family who are mourning the loss of our beloved mother, grandmother, mother-in-law.

Friends are still hearing the news, and are contacting us one by one to express their condolences. Many are inquiring about the arrangements which have been made for visitation and for the funeral liturgies. In fact, this procession of phone calls and other contact is in its own way a kind of liturgy which needs to be lived in order to be appreciated. These days are also giving us another perspective on the truth of our faith, and the strength that its rituals can provide especially in times of trial.

As we gather for the recitation of the rosary (for nine days beginning on the day of grandma's death), there is the physical assurance that family can and does support family, but there is also the deeper truth that this simple but venerable prayer, is keeping us united and sustained in the spiritual realm as well. Along with the Mass of Christian Burrial, it is one way that we can pray her into heaven, at once ritualizing our goodbye and confiding her to the loving embrace of the merciful Father, and to the prayer of his (and our) mother whose intercession has been proven to be so efficacious thoughout the history of millenia.

It is also interesting at least, and providential at most, that these days of mourning also find us celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints. What better reminder to us who are still on the pilgrimage toward our heavenly homeland, that countless others have walked this road, and now await us in the kingdom! Saint Bernard of Clairveaux, a Cistercian monk who lived in the twelfth century said it best:

Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feastday mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honours when their heavenly Father honours them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them? The saints have no need of honour from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself enflamed by a tremendous yearning. (Office of Readings for November 1, Solemnity of All the Saints)

May the Blessed Mother intercede for our us who must now bid farewell to our beloved departed, and may the example of the saints enflame us with this same yearning to follow in their footsteps, to courageously face the trials of this life and to prepare ourselves for the glory we will know in heaven.